Galápagos tortoise

The Galápagos tortoise is the largest tortoise on the whole planet. The biggest ones weigh more than 400 kilograms and can grow almost two metres long. They live only on the Galápagos Islands, a group of rocky, volcanic islands far out in the Pacific Ocean, and they are found nowhere else in the wild.

These tortoises are famous for living an incredibly long time. Many reach well over one hundred years old, which makes them some of the longest-living animals on Earth. They move slowly and calmly, resting in the sun to stay warm and plodding through the grass to find their next meal.

Galápagos tortoises are plant-eaters. They munch on grasses, leafy plants, cactus pads, fruit, and lichens, and they can get much of the water they need straight from the juicy plants they eat. Eating so much greenery is one reason they grow to be such enormous, heavy reptiles.

Not every Galápagos tortoise looks the same. Some have a high, rounded shell like a dome, while others have a shell that curves up at the front like a saddle. The saddle shape lets those tortoises stretch their long necks up high to reach leaves and cactus growing above the ground.

Long ago, sailing ships took huge numbers of these tortoises, and animals like rats, pigs, and goats that people brought to the islands harmed their eggs, their babies, and their food. The tortoises became very rare. Today, careful protection and special breeding programmes are helping their numbers climb back up, but they still need people to look after their island homes.